New initiative aims to make collaboration between state and local governments and private investors easier, in an effort to improve infrastructure nationwide

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Staff Report

Smyrna/Clayton Sun-Times

Staff Report

Posted Jul. 17, 2014 at 8:39 PM

Staff Report
Posted Jul. 17, 2014 at 8:39 PM

WILMINGTON, Del.

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'Build America Investment Initiative' at a glance:

As part of the Initiative, the Obama Administration is launching the Build America Transportation Investment Center.

Housed at the Department of Transp...

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'Build America Investment Initiative' at a glance:

As part of the Initiative, the Obama Administration is launching the Build America Transportation Investment Center.

Housed at the Department of Transportation, this center will serve as a one-stop shop for "state and local governments, public and private developers and investors seeking to utilize innovative financing strategies for transportation infrastructure projects" through various means:

Build America Interagency Working Group: To expand and increase private investment and collaboration in infrastructure beyond the transportation sector, a federal inter-agency working group, co-chaired by Cabinet Secretaries Lew and Foxx, will do a focused review with the best and the brightest from the public and private sector.

Infrastructure Investment Summit: The Treasury Department will host a summit on Infrastructure Investment in the U.S. on September 9, 2014. This session will bring together leading developers and institutional investors with state and local officials and their Federal counterparts, with a focus on innovative financing approaches to infrastructure, and highlight other resources that support project development.

‘Navigator Service’ for the Public and Private Sector: Through hands-on support, advice and expertise, the center will make DOT credit programs more understandable and accessible to states and local governments and leverage both public and private funding to support ambitious projects.

Technical Assistance: The center will share best practices from states that are leading the way on private investment to states that have not yet adopted innovative financing strategies, encouraging a more robust national market.

Information to Reduce Uncertainty and Delays: The center will work in partnership with the inter-agency Infrastructure Permitting Improvement center to provide visibility for local and state governments, project sponsors and investors on the permitting process.

President Barack Obama, joined by several state and local Democrats at the Port of Wilmington Thursday afternoon, signed the “Build America Investment Initiative.”

Obama said that the initiative creates a one-stop shop for cities and states looking to partner with the private sector to fund infrastructure projects.

“There are lots of investors who want to back infrastructure projects because, when it’s done right, they then get a steady, long-term investment – they get a steady return,” Obama said. “Lots of states and local governments would welcome more private investment, but they need a partner in the federal government to help do some matchmaking.”

The setting for his speech was in front of the I-495 bridge that has been closed while repairs are being made.

After his visit, Delaware Republicans blasted the President and Democrats who joined him in Wilmington.

“The President has repeatedly exploited situations like the one surrounding the I-495 bridge as photo-ops in the name of infrastructure improvements,” Charlie Copeland, Chairman of the Delaware Republican Party said in a statement released yesterday. “Yet he has allowed one of America's biggest infrastructure projects, the Keystone Pipeline, to sit in limbo at the expense of thousands of jobs for hardworking Americans.”

As the ongoing debate about how to fund transportation and infrastructure fixes continues, the administration announced the creation of the Build America Transportation Investment Center.

The center will serve as the hub for state and local governments, public and private developers and investors “seeking to utilize innovative financing strategies for transportation infrastructure projects,” according to a White House press release.

The center’s exact impact on funding for Delaware projects is not clear. However, New Castle County County Executive Tom Gordon (D) said that local support is already in place for the initiative, and that it should start with an agreement between the Port of Wilmington, the City of Wilmington and the state of Delaware.

“It’s all about growing the port, and our partnership with GM,” Gordon said. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time.”